Sunday, October 20, 2013

Epic media fail

Well, the 20/20 piece on the “Manosphere” is obviously gonna be a trainwreck.... Guys, she worked at Abercrombie & Fitch and she has a degree in Diplomacy!

Off to a promising start, no?

"Deep in the underbelly of the Internet is a hidden corner known as the “Manosphere”— a collection of websites, Facebook pages and chat rooms where men vent their rage and spew anti-women rhetoric."

Furthermore, as far as I know, the reporters didn't talk to Roosh, Roissy, Rollo, Dalrock, me, or any of the others who are more or less recognized as central figures in the Androsphere. (Correct me if I'm wrong, gentlemen.) I don't see anything wrong with talking to Paul Elam of A Voice For Men, but if you're not talking to Roosh and Heartiste, at a bare minimum, you cannot pretend to be seriously covering anything that anyone would recognize as "the Manosphere".

Of course, the real revolutionaries are scary to the journalists, because we are not only considerably more intelligent than they are, but we quite clearly don't give a damn about what the mainstream says, thinks, or feels about us.

The Androsphere continues to grow in influence. For example, I'm a little late getting around to my Q3 report, but Alpha Game's traffic increased to 349,623 in Q3, up from an average of 323,079 the previous quarter. That is 8.2 percent growth per quarter, and I suspect the other Game blogs are seeing similar growth, especially great new blogs like Just Four Guys.

26 comments:

I did talk to 20/20 twice. The first time was a preliminary chat with an intern, and the second was with a producer for about an hour. He interrogated me on rape for half that time, so if I do make an appearance on the segment, I imagine it will portray me as a rapist.

WSJ: Does Obama Know? Does Obama Care?She Could Just Marry Kanye WestThere's a theory that feminism isn't really an ideology but a form of feminine contrivance--a set of rationalizations designed to conceal one's true nature. In support of that idea we present a piece from Jezebel.com by one Lindy West, titled "Men Who Insist You Change Your Name Make Terrible Husbands."...

...So wait a minute. She starts by denouncing men who insist, against the wishes of their prospective wives, that they change names, but it turns out she's with a man who insists, against her stated wishes, that she not change names. What logical conclusion is there other than that what she really wants is a dominant man?

Urhm... so? If my little sister pisses all over herself because she doesn't like what you or they or I say, and someone hands her a mike. Just laugh like the rest of us. Seriously, I think you give these flakes in dying rags and on ignored television far too much... everything. Who needs to beat what is, and is being, ignored? My guess is most of their even dropping reader/viewership numbers are fraudulent. I would ask for peer review but I know what that would get me. Never mind, just... why bother with some delusional little girl with a mike?

I don't think the manosphere is spreading so much as men are simply waking up. Wealth and ease can cloud the mind, but being hungry and beset has a way of waking up the beast inside. Most men aren't quitters. We might be ignorant sometimes. And we are definitely indolent when we can be. But when it hits us that we are up against it? The stupid become feminist, queer, or such, hoping surrender to any and every indignity will win them... whatever. The rest run or fight. It's natural progression from being on the losing side of a war most didn't realize they were in until they ran into the hell of it.

Traffic is up in the "manosphere" because men are looking at changing the system that is stacked against them. A lot of balls are dropping, green and virginal as many of those are. Still, it means there is some hope. Not much, but a little. Poor bastards. Waking up just in time to be thrown into battle. Should be interesting times, these next few years and decades.

20/20 is a bellwether for the other media outlets. If 20/20 touches a third rail that's energized, no one else loses. Conversely, if 20/20 hits upon a goldmine of drama which increases ratings, the other outlets will move to follow.

Apparently, they can already see their first pass at this doesn't work in some way. Either it doesn't fit the narrative of the producers, or it doesn't generate enough controversy to matter.

A group of thousands of men is not large enough to scare them off, but is too big to be marginalized in a piece that focuses on that same group. There's more to this, but its escaping me, pre-coffee.

<a href="http://mattforney.com/2013/10/18/when-abc-met-the-manosphere-and-me/>Matt Forney was also briefly interviewed</a> and turned them down for the segment when it became very obvious they were choosing him because they thought he was going to be an angry and bitter man.

They want you to go off on a tangent. That way, they get lots of sound bites they can splice together. If you're being asked a lot of questions on the same topic, Roosh is quite right to suspect he's going to be portrayed as a rapist.

I'd have been happy to talk with them, but I don't think Dal or I were the crazies they went looking for. They want insane, 4-chan /b/rothers misogyny and hate, but instead got rational, organized and cogent messages they don't want to see get any support.

I read the piece was "postponed" from airing. Makes me wonder if they know they'll have their assess handed to them after all of the facts about the story's producers are surfacing online.

@Bob Wallace said: "On the other hand, there is no such thing as bad PR."

I disagree. Look at the Tea Party movement as an example.

When asked about the positions the Tea Party represents (smaller government, lower taxation, moving government decisions closer to the local level) without ever mentioning the Tea Party (only the positions) a significant majority of Americans has a positive view of those positions.

When asked if they support what the Tea Party represents, a significant majority of Americans will answer no.

The MSM would love to do to the men's movement what it did to the Tea Party--taint the brand so people never look at what it represents.

Going by the brief interview clip on ABC's website the interviewer seems (un)surprisingly clueless. She is mystified when Paul Elam says that marriage is a bad deal for men, even though that's been a big topic both in and outside the 'manosphere' for years. ABC clearly isn't remotely interested in mens' issues, they just want to use the so called 'manosphere' as the villain to drum up ratings through artificial controversy.

The title of ABC news' report is Women Battle Online Anti-Women Hate From the 'Manosphere'

If I understand it right, JB's choice of names is a preemptive seizing of frame. JB spends a lot of posts shaming women. A standard response to shaming of a woman from a woman is some variant of "How dare you judge me!" -- an attempt to reframe the shamer as mindlessly attacking. By embracing the title of Judgy Bitch, JB is dismissing the response rather than defending against it. "Yada, yada. Now that you're done, I've got more judging you to do."

It helps keep everyone focused on what she's saying, rather than diluting her message with needless defenses.

If a reporter calls you seeking comment, hang up. There is no advantage in talking to them and they control the entirety of what is shown on television. Anything you say can be spliced together in different ways to make you look like a monster. IOW, never fight the enemy on ground of his choosing. Furthermore, there shouldn't be any need to talk to any of you to understand your positions. They can glean everything from what you've already written.

Reporters are professional liars who lie to drive up ratings. There is nothing else to them.

if you're not talking to Roosh and Heartiste, at a bare minimum, you cannot pretend to be seriously covering anything that anyone would recognize as "the Manosphere".

Obviously the goal is not to represent the Manosphere objectively or to give them a fair chance to present their views.

The media's goal is to ridicule and condemn and propagandize against the Manosphere. When they set out to trash something, they usually pick the stupidest possible "representative" for an interview, not the most intelligent or articulate.

Thus, the 20/20 piece did not "fail" because it accomplished what it set out to do.

Helen Smith made the rounds in support of her book; will be interesting to see if they interview her and again express bemusement at her thesis and advise her readers to do what Tucker Carlson advised ("man up"). There is an enormous social insecurity being expressed in old media as the career choices taken by its leading members are not resulting in the social prestige and income once provided. I view their efforts to be revanchist, an effort to defend a professional world in collapse, which can only be accomplished through the de-legitmizing of their economic competitors.

(Cool being defined here as "the way things should be") When a night goes the way it should, then yeah, it is cool. When the road trip goes off the way it should - no breakdowns, no "police interventions," nobody friendships loss over stupid stuff, then yeah, it is cool. If your boss recognizes your ability, dedication, and results...then yeah, it is cool.

I would truly, verily, and in all other ways, really not want to HAVE to use game. If the return was not so high, then no a man would invest in this strategy. It puts an unwanted, unappreciated, and unwelcome burden on men that have better things to do. That game works is a pathetic commentary on our society.

But the reality is....game works.

I don't say that because I am knocking over 9s and 10s like a monster. I say it because I use it everyday - in a variety of ways - and I can see the results.

In the store, I use it on the check out girl and see the reaction. At the DMV I can actually get a smile out of one of them - it aint in no way a pretty smile, but the result is still confirmed. My wife thinks I am a great catch (certifiable proof of either insanity or my game ability or some combination there of).

That is MGTOW, not marrying, permitting a divorce, and in all other ways, checking out of society. We, as men, fix problems every day - and have no qualms with being the go to emergency back up - but this problem and this solution leave a bad taste in the mouths of too many men.

Dems be da betas.

I don't blame them, I understand completely the sentiment. But, the reality of the world is...game works. Employ it as you will, dabble or immerse and everywhere in between - but you have to learn game (and understand it) before you can dismiss it outright ( or as 20/20 is doing - disparage it) .